Herbivore men

The term was quickly sensationalized by the media, gaining a negative connotation suggesting young men who had lost their "manliness" were responsible for Japan's declining birth rate and stagnating economy.

Through mass media, the label of herbivore man came to be associated with irresponsible, overly feminine men who cared too much about their appearance rather than marriage or finding a stable job, which were seen as traditionally masculine roles.

This is largely because the traits associated with herbivore men are defined by popular culture and media rather than through academic fields, as demonstrated in the contrast between the perspective on masculinity that Maki Fukusawa intended to convey in coining the term compared to its current connotation.

[9] Japan's stagnating economy following the burst of the 1980s economic bubble destabilized its labor market structured around salarymen, or white-collar workers with a permanent salaried job.

[10][9] In turn, essentialist narratives of a masculine ideal—the married, family-oriented salaryman—that exist in relation to Japan's economic and labor structures were put to question, and became less appealing to younger generations.

[11][3] Many youths rejected this employment path, and as of 2007, approximately 920,000 men were freeters, many of whom also found it difficult to marry because of the strong relation between work and marriage in Japan.

[11] Furthermore, after the term was coined in 2006 and took on a wider use in mass media and popular culture, nationalist groups targeted the emergence of herbivore men as an economic threat amid the 2008 recession.

Many women refuse to marry men who do not have steady jobs since a stable employment is seen as a sign of maturity and masculinity, and a man's ability to financially provide for a family unit.

[22] The Single Lady (お一人様, Ohitorisama) was a TV drama broadcast in 2009, focusing on the relationship between an herbivore man and his coworker who end up sharing an apartment.

[23] Contrary to the rhetoric seen in mass media, characteristics associated with herbivore men have appeared positively in popular culture and entertainment alongside terms such as bishōnen, an aesthetic and art style that represents a youthful, androgynous, and gentle form of masculinity.

[24]Despite mass media's rendering of herbivore men as individuals whose passivity burdens Japanese society, SMAP, among other bands, have played active roles in international relations and trends in globalization.